metamorphose

[ met-uh-mawr-fohz, -fohs ]

verb (used with object)

, met·a·mor·phosed, met·a·mor·phos·ing.

1. to change the form or nature of; transform.

   Synonyms: transmute, mutate

2. to subject to metamorphosis or metamorphism.

verb (used without object)

, met·a·mor·phosed, met·a·mor·phos·ing.

1. to undergo or be capable of undergoing a change in form or nature.

   Synonyms: transmute, mutate

metamorphose

/ ˌmɛtəˈmɔːfəʊz /

verb

1. to undergo or cause to undergo metamorphosis or metamorphism

Other Words From

• unmet·a·morphosed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of metamorphose¹

First recorded in 1570–80; back formation from metamorphosis

Example Sentences

To arrive at an age when women stand-up comedians would be considered a normal thing, American culture and American show business had to metamorphose, sometimes in sync, sometimes leapfrogging each other.

From Time

Yet resilience and creativity also emerge, as people carve out a new way of living in a city metamorphosed.

From Outside Online

She had a natural talent for extracting lessons from ordinary moments, showing her kids how caterpillars metamorphose into butterflies and sliding magnets near metallic pipes to explain polarity.

From ProPublica

Over the last few years, Section 230 of the 1996 US Communications Decency Act has metamorphosed from a little-known subset of regulations about the internet into a major rallying point for both the right and left.

From MIT Technology Review

That indeed would soon metamorphose into the strongest and broadest economic expansion since World War II.

From The Daily Beast

You metamorphose, seemingly overnight, from most- to least-stressed individual on the astrological block.

From The Daily Beast

Any little Accident from without may metamorphose his Fancy, and push him upon a new set of Thoughts.

From Project Gutenberg

How metamorphose a passage of dialect into the power of gravitation, and a silent corollary into a flash of lightning?

From Project Gutenberg

Your desire for profits, which is sheer selfishness, you metamorphose into altruistic solicitude for suffering humanity.

From Project Gutenberg

Now the pitcher, as this is called, is not a new organ, but simply a metamorphose of a leaf.

From Project Gutenberg

The Metamorphose is forcible, perhaps it has more force and wit than elegance.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• mutate
• transmute